Ocean / Sea Water?

[barkscruff]

I am thinking of making my next beer with a little bit of ocean water. I know this sounds absurd, but hopefully its doable. I live on the ocean, and would love to do something unique. What if I collected 1 gallon or a 1/2 gallon of water from the Atlantic, and somehow sanitized it? I imagine that the evaporation and increased saline will be an issue. I suppose I would have to add this late in the boil or at flame out.

Anyone have any take on this? I would be doing an extract recipe, but any suggestions on style, etc are appreciated. I thought I remember someone telling me that Amstel Brights in Aruba are made from the sea water...But I might be incorrect. I also understand this might turn out to be more of a novelty than anything else.

Thanks!

 

[DannPM]

Even diluted to 20% of a batch, I would venture to say the salinity will make it undrinkable.

 

[SenorPepe]

Dude...what? I have no idea but I like your ballsiness. Maybe a very not to style Gose type thing? Oyster stout? Do you like salt in your beer?

 

[FLDanimal]

All the water in Aruba is desalinized so technically it was once ocean water but it is now fresh water. So no, Amstel Bright is not made from ocean water. I imagine the ocean water would make your brew too salty and undrinkable. That much salt may also be toxic to the yeast. Not to mention all the wale poop in the ocean. I guess your best bet would be desalinizing the water.

 

[barkscruff]

Ha - Thanks for the replies, I expected some mild outrage. I don't put salt in my beer, but I guess I was going more for the novelty effect and being able to say that the beer was made using actual ocean water. I guess the same could be said if its desalinated...But I am not sure how to do that.

 

[TimTrone]

Seeing as how drinking salt water has killed many sailors and shipwreck victims, I would advise against it.

Maybe you could set up a basic desalination still and then you could use the sea water.

 

[TimTrone]

Oh, and to desalinate it you could just boil the sea water, and trap the steam. The water from the steam is what's drinkable.

One of the many water people on this site can advise you. I don't know too much about the water stuff.

 

[foltster]

Go get like 1L of ocean water, boil it, cool it, and try mixing some into a glass of one of your finished beers. You could probably skip the boiling step but YMMV.

 

[LMGK]

I would combat the saltiness with some gasoline.

 

[Machalel]

I like your creativity and experimental attitude, but... It's kinda the equivalent of saying that you are brewing a farmhouse saison and want to put a couple of pounds of dirt in it.

You can try boiling the water, capturing the steam, condensing it back down, etc, but in the end you've at the same end-state as if you used normal water instead.

I'd suggest that i you want a by-the-sea inspired brew, that you look at what other ingredients you can use (seaweed?), plus make sure you get a really big "foamy" head on it.

 

[SwampassJ]

What is sea water something like 35,000 ppm for salinity?

 

[StMarcos]

Make sure to scoop up lots of plankton.

 

[BaronVonMeisterburger]

Go for a swim in the ocean and then drop your bathing suit into the secondary?

 

[Genjin]

Fill the secondary with a few pounds of fresh clams and rack onto those?

 

[BaronVonMeisterburger]

I've been thinking about making beer using sea water sourced from the bilge pump of an old wood boat.

 

[spearko520]

i don't know how much salt i put in my last gose - i was hammered and let my daughter mortar and pestle the salt and coriander- but i have a feeling it was a lot more than i usually use, and it turned out awesome. it's like eating pretzels and drinking beer without having to actually eat the pretzels. but i have been known to eat salt (they say it's good for your salt levels). anyway- go for it. you never know until you try, or you die- but one of those things is inevitable, and one is up to you.

 

[shuckit]

I'd take a sample, say 1/2 cup, and dilute with fresh water until it's drinkable, then figure out the ratio and go from there. Try it!

 

[Darwin18]

That's pretty vile man...besides the obvious nasty taste I would think the salt would definitely inhibit fermentation.

 

[LexusChris]

I like your creativity and experimental attitude, but... It's kinda the equivalent of saying that you are brewing a farmhouse saison and want to put a couple of pounds of dirt in it.

You can try boiling the water, capturing the steam, condensing it back down, etc, but in the end you've at the same end-state as if you used normal water instead.

I'd suggest that i you want a by-the-sea inspired brew, that you look at what other ingredients you can use (seaweed?), plus make sure you get a really big "foamy" head on it.

+1

I like the seaweed idea ... there are some viking brews (I believe) that used seaweed/kelp etc.
--LexusChris

 

[kwbbpc]

Doesn't sound too much different than what dogfish is doing out here by me - beer made from spit! Chicha!

I don't know if it'd have the stomach to try ocean beer or spit beer though...

 

[barkscruff]

Okay - got it, idea is scratched! I like one of the responses about other ingredients such as seaweed, or other "inspired by" things I could add.

 

[VonRunkel]

Maybe get some small sea shells and throw them in the bottles...

 

[luke2080]

Whoa - lots of haters. I say try it.

Seeing as how drinking salt water has killed many sailors and shipwreck victims, I would advise against it.

People die drinking salt water because they are shipwreched and thirty, then drink salt water, with the salt making them further dehydrated. Not going to be a problem here. Plus, you are going to mix it with 5+ gallons of normal water, and you're going to boil it.

It will be salty. Use 1 Qt, or if you are riskier, 1 L in your batch. For style, I'd try an IPA to see how the salt effects the bitterness.

the problem you would have (besides potentially making something that is terrible) is getting the right mash pH. But you won't have that problem if you are doing an extract kit.

Do it....someone has to, in the name of science!

 

[FLDanimal]

Isnt Whirfloc made of seaweed?

 

[Genjin]

I didn't mean to be a hater, but I found this thread to be fantastically amusing. It got me thinking about what roads we might go down if we were left to our own devices. I know that for myself, having a wife really helps keep me grounded. I would probably be the guy adding dirt to my Farmhouse Ale to get an authentic flavor or Kimchi to a sour beer.

Having this forum and people around me keep me from going off the deep end with my tinkering. On a serious note, i do like the idea of some seaweed in the beer. Could be added to the boil for sanitization. Wakame might be a good choice:

"During springtime in Japan, fresh wakame is available, and is even more delicate and delicious than the dried variety – pleasingly chewy and almost crunchy, yet delicate. Appreciated for its fresh aroma of the sea, it is often used as a garnish (to be eaten, of course) with sashimi. High in fiber, calcium, iron and vitamins, wakame’s attributes are similar to kombu's."

 

[JonK331]

How about using mostly distilled water and adding a pint of ocean water to the boil. Might make a very nice stout.

 

[spearko520]

i think we may be approaching this wrong. Instead of making our beers more like the ocean, we should be making our oceans more like our beer. think globally, act clinically- i always say. imagine a day at the beach, surfing coriander waves of grain...

 

[Aoife3Sheets]

Anyone have any take on this? I would be doing an extract recipe, but any suggestions on style, etc are appreciated. I thought I remember someone telling me that Amstel Brights in Aruba are made from the sea water...But I might be incorrect. I also understand this might turn out to be more of a novelty than anything else.

I LOVE the idea of this, and think you shouldn't be dissuaded by all the naysayers. The Ancient Romans had a recipe for Coan wine, which was made with saltwater. The trick would be to get some fairly clean saltwater to start with.

I think anything along the lines of a gose could be great, and I'm hoping to try something similar. And honestly, if the worst case scenario is a gallon of undrinkable saltiness, then lesson learned. I think it's great, though.

 

[Beernik]

I like the innovative idea but I think salinity will kill the yeast. Even small amounts can retard fermentation (rising of dough) in baking.

 

[Wingy]

I say try it! Start small - I would use no more than 3% seawater in the strike water/lauter water, and maybe make a quick 1 gallon test batch. This is based on nothing but guesstimation, but as Gose is made with salt added to the water I don't think that a little salt would hurt you too much on the fermentation. I would worry more about other ions (high HCO3-, high Ca++ in ocean water), and definitely filter the water to get rid of diatoms/larger particles of nastiness. For style, something light and crisp would work - too much hop flavor and you might not taste the salt water.

Will it be terrible? Maybe. Will you "taste the ocean"? Probably not. But it's an out there idea and I'm glad someone is trying it (for all we know it could work well).